The present invention relates to displaying literary and/or linguistic information about a “lookup” word/phrase from an information set. It finds particular application in conjunction with simultaneously displaying detailed and context information about the “lookup” word/phrase from an associated node link structure and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present invention is also amenable to other like applications.
Literary and linguistic information associated with words/phrases is commercially available in hard copy books (e.g., Merriam Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary (10th ed. 1998), Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus (2nd ed. 1999), and Harper Collins' Spanish Dictionary (2000)). Literary and linguistic information includes both relationships between words/phrases and attributes of the word/phrase. The relationships of a given word/phrase include identification of related homonyms, synonyms, antonyms, roots, derivatives, variants, inflected forms, and foreign language translations. The attributes of a given word/phrase include definitions, pronunciations, etymology, and usage. Such relationships and attributes can be provided individually or in any combination in a given set of literary and linguistic information.
Literary and linguistic information is also commercially available in various computerized forms. Such computerized information is available in word processor applications, stand-alone software applications, Web-based tools, and the like. Examples of such word processor applications include Microsoft®'s Word and Corel®'s WordPerfect®. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, Microsoft®'s Encarta World English Dictionary, and Collins' English/Spanish Talking Dictionary are examples of such stand-alone software applications. Merriam-Webster Online at www.m-w.com, Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus at www.funkandwagnalls.com, and Freedict.com's English-to-foreign language translation dictionaries at www.freedict.com are examples of such Web-based tools.
The arrangement of literary and linguistic information in hard copy books is well understood. Generally, such books are arranged in tabular style alphabetical lists; usually by the lookup word/phrase and sometimes by topic. The literary and linguistic information is typically text that is either printed with the lookup word/phrase or printed elsewhere and referenced by the lookup word, phrase, or topic.
Currently computerized literary and linguistic information is typically derived from a corresponding hard copy book and displayed in the same table-based and list formats as used in books. Computerized literary and linguistic information is generally displayed in response to search requests. Hyperlinks can be incorporated in the literary and linguistic information to jump to information about the hyperlinked word/phrase from the results of a search request. The primary advantage of computerized literary and linguistic information is the ability to locate and display desired information more quickly. However, the relationships between words/phrases in computerized literary and linguistic information are often lost or cumbersome to navigate as you advance from an initial search to subsequent searches. The word/phrase relationships are valuable to users who are searching and comparing words in order to choose the one most appropriate to their need. Sometimes it is useful to navigate back and forth through the history of a search sequence. It is also sometimes useful to simultaneously visualize three or more levels of word relationships as one narrows their preferences during a search sequence.
Relational databases are useful for storage and retrieval of computerized literary and linguistic information. A relational database of computerized literary and linguistic information typically includes records for words, phrases, and topics. Each record includes the relationships between the word, phrase, or topic and other records of the database.
A lookup word/phrase, in reference to hierarchical structures, is often characterized as a headword. The hierarchical structure originates from the headword and is defined by the relationships between the headword and other words, phrases, and topics of the database. It is well understood that information visualizations provide insights to the underlying data. For example, for any given set of information, new information regarding patterns or relationships can be obtained by looking at attributes of the information. It would be advantageous to utilize a method and apparatus for simultaneously displaying both the detail (i.e., the attributes and relationships of the head word) for the selected literary and linguistic information and the context of the selected information within the entire database (i.e., the hierarchical structure with respect to the selected head word). However, a difficulty lies in displaying large hierarchical structures in a limited display area. Information visualization research has explored the application of interactive graphics and animation technology to visualizing and making sense of larger information sets than would otherwise be practical. One recurring theme has been the power of “focus+context” techniques, in which detailed views of particular parts of an information set are blended in some way with a view of the overall structure of the set.
Furnas, G. W., “Generalized Fisheye Views,” CHI '86 Proceedings, ACM, April 1986, pp. 16-23, describes fisheye views that provide a balance of local detail and global context. Section 1 discusses fisheye lenses that show places nearby in great detail while showing the whole world, showing remote regions in successively less detail; a caricature is the poster of the “New Yorker's View of the United States.” Section 3 describes a degree of interest (DOI) function that assigns to each point in a structure, a number telling how interested the user is in seeing that point, given the current task. A display can then be made by showing the most interesting points, as indicated by the DOI function. The fisheye view can achieve, for example, a logarithmically compressed display of a tree, as illustrated by FIG. 4 of Furnas for a tree structured text file. Section 4 also describes fisheye views for botanical taxonomies, legal codes, text outlines, a decisions tree, a telephone area code directory, a corporate directory, and UNIX file hierarchy listings. Section 5 indicates that a display-relevant notion of a priori importance can be defined for lists, trees, acylic directed graphs, general graphs, and Euclidean spaces, unlike the geographical example which inspired the metaphor of the “New Yorker's View,” the underlying structures need not be spatial, nor need the output be graphic. FIG. 6 of Furnas shows a fisheye calendar.
Lamping, J., Rao, R., and Pirolli, P., “A Focus+Context Technique Based on Hyperbolic Geometry for Visualizing Large Hierarchies,” CHI '95 Mosaic of Creativity—Papers, ACM, May 7-11, 1995, pp. 401-410, presents a focus+context (fisheye) technique for visualizing and manipulating large hierarchies. The technique assigns more display space to a portion of the hierarchy while still embedding it in the context of the entire hierarchy. The essence of this scheme is to lay out the hierarchy in a uniform way on a hyperbolic plane and map this plane onto a circular display region. This supports a smooth blending between focus and context, as well as continuous redirection of the focus. This focus+content technique was referred to as a hyperbolic browser. The hyperbolic browser initially displays a tree with its root at the center, but the display can be smoothly transformed to bring nodes into focus. Two salient properties of the hyperbolic browser were that components of the visual display diminished in size and the quantity of components grew exponentially as they moved outwards from the focused portion of the visual display. Thus the context always included several generations of parents, siblings, and children, making it easier to explore the hierarchy without getting lost.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,250 to Lamping et al. (“Lamping '250”), assigned to Xerox Corporation and entitled “Layout of Node-Link Structures in Space with Negative Curvature,” discloses a method for layout of node link structures. Under Lamping '250, layout data indicates positions in a negatively curved layout space for nodes in a hierarchical branch of a node link structure. The layout data indicates a parent position for parent nodes and, for children that share a parent node, child positions approximately along a circle in the layout space with the parent position approximately at the circle's center. An approximate base spacing separates adjacent child positions. The radii of circles within the branch together approximate a function that increases slowly with the number of child nodes such that the radii and spacings along circles are all approximately uniform within the branch. The layout data can be obtained from data defining the node link structure. The layout data can be used to perform mappings, each obtaining positions for a subset of the nodes. The layout data can be used to present a first representation of the node link structure on a display. In response to a user signal indicating a change from a first display position near a first feature to a second display position, a second representation can be presented that is perceptible as a changed continuation of the first. The second representation includes, near the second display position, a second feature representing the same part of the node link structure as the first feature. The second representation can be obtained by a transformation of the layout space, which can be a discrete approximation of a hyperbolic plane.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,632 to Lamping et al. (“Lamping '632”), assigned to Xerox Corporation and entitled “Displaying Node-Link Structure with Region of Greater Spacings and Peripheral Branches,” discloses a method for display of node link structures. Under Lamping '632 node link data defining a node link structure is used to present a sequence of representations on a display. The last representation in the sequence is perceptible as a changed continuation of the first. Each representation includes bounded node features, each with a center of area and a nearest node spacing that define a mid-spacing circle. All mid-spacing circles together determine an outer convex hull enclosing a total area for the representation. The mid-spacing circles of a subset of more spaced node features determine an inner convex hull enclosing approximately half the total area and enclosing a region in which nearest node spacings are in general perceptibly greater than in another region outside the second convex hull. The node features also represent a peripheral branch with lower level nodes that are not represented by more spaced node features. In the peripheral branch, node features that share a parent have centers of area positioned approximately along an arc with sufficiently similar spacings from the center of area of the parent node feature and from adjacent node features that they are perceptible as a group of related node features. The inner convex hulls of the first and last representations include subsets of node features representing different sets of nodes. The sequence can produce a perception that one node feature's nearest node spacing increases while another's decreases. The representations can be presented by a series of iterations, and can be presented at animation speeds to produce a perception of continuously moving node features.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,786,820 to Robertson (“Robertson '820”), assigned to Xerox Corporation and entitled “Method and Apparatus for Increasing the Display Detail of a Tree Structure,” discloses a computer-controlled display system and method for visualization of a tree structure so that a greater amount of detail of the tree structure can be displayed in a display area. Under Robertson '820, the tree structure is warped about an arbitrary surface for display. Such an arbitrary surface included surfaces defined by a parabola (FIG. 7), a hyperbola (FIG. 8), or by the intersection of two lines (FIG. 9). As a result, an increased number of nodes could be displayed in each level of the tree. The three-dimensional tree structures depicted in FIGS. 7-9 of Robertson '820 show the hierarchies of the trees flowing from left to right and are sometimes referred to as cone trees.
Based on Xerox research and development, Inxight Software, Inc. (“Inxight”) currently offers commercially available products for software development, web page development, and browsers that implement “focus+context” visualization techniques. Inxight's products permit creation and use of interactive displays that provide detailed information for a particular item along with information that reveals relationships of the item to other items in the overall information set. Inxight's web page development product is known as Hyperbolic Tree Server. In conjunction with Hyperbolic Tree Server, Inxight's Tree Studio provides users with a browser that permits users to navigate the displays created by web page developers. Similarly, Inxight's Hyperbolic Tree software development kit enables software developers to integrate visualization displays using “focus+context” techniques with software applications.
Currently, the “focus+context” visualization techniques described above have not been employed to display literary and linguistic information. It would be useful to implement these “focus+context” visualization techniques or similar techniques in displaying literary and linguistic information. The present invention contemplates a method and apparatus for displaying computerized literary and linguistic information using “focus+context” and similar visualization techniques.